Upon the occurrence of specific faults in turbomachines, certain deflections of individual components are to be expected, such as radial deflections of turbomachine shafts. To prevent damage to or even destruction of such components in the event of a deflection thereof that can occur in response to a contacting by further components that are contiguous thereto, predetermined minimum distances are observed between the individual components.
Thus, for example, at narrow points between the rotor shafts and stator components, the danger arises of the stator components damaging rotating components in response to a contact, should the rotor be substantially eccentrically deflected in the event of a fault. The high speed of the rotor can cause it to be severed already in response to a short-duration contact with the often sharp-edged stator components. Accordingly, components that are moving relative to one another must be prevented in any case from coming into mutual contact. For that reason, the motionless stator components are cut far back in order to avoid a contacting between the stator-side and rotor-side components, even in the case of extreme deflections of the rotor.
The U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,077,038, 5,688,105, 5,927,721 and 5,794,938 describe sealing sections, whose brush seals are positioned by holding devices. These holding devices are located at a predetermined distance from the corresponding shafts, so that the shaft is always only contacted by the flexible brush seals themselves, even in the case of a possible radial deflection of the shaft.
However, since the sealing action to be achieved for such sealing elements is dependent upon how far apart the components are spaced that move relative to one another and bound a free space to be sealed, a compromise is needed between a maximum possible sealing action and protection against damage or destruction.